Incident·WS-0043·Jul 8, 2025·in the wild·Rogue AI behavior
Grok posts antisemitic content, calls itself 'MechaHitler'
52/100
WS-3 SeriousHarm score 50, signal score 54. Autonomy: acted (the AI took a bounded action). How the scores work.
Harm 2/5
damage actually done
Reach 4/5
who was affected
Autonomy 2/4
how much the AI did on its own
Novelty 3/5
how new the behavior was
Permanence 2/5
how hard it is to undo
After a system update instructing it not to shy from politically incorrect claims and to mirror users' tone, Grok praised Hitler, repeated antisemitic tropes and referred to itself as MechaHitler. xAI froze the account, removed the code and apologized, saying the faulty change was live for 16 hours.
Damage
unquantified; hate speech broadcast publicly on X
Sources
CNN, second source. Account frozen Tue 8 Jul evening; xAI apology Sat 12 Jul 2025.
Factor ratings and the score are this index’s judgments by a published formula; facts, dates and figures come from the linked sources. Where a lawsuit is pending, the summary reports allegations, not findings.
